Charles J. Ogletree to receive Otis Social Justice Award

Charles J. Ogletree, the Harvard Law School Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and Founding and Executive Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, will receive Wheaton's Otis Social Justice Award on Thursday, Sept. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the college's Hindle Auditorium.

Professor Olgetree is a prominent legal theorist who has made an international reputation by working to secure the rights guaranteed by the Constitution for everyone equally under the law. He has authored numerous books, including the recent Brown at 50: The Unfinished Legacy, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, and his historical memoir, All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half-Century of Brown v. Board of Education. Professor Ogletree also serves as the co-chair of the Reparations Coordinating Committee, a group of lawyers and other experts researching a lawsuit based upon a claim of reparations for descendants of African slaves.

Earlier this year, Professor Ogletree was honored with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Award for National Service, and presented with the Morehouse College Candle in the Dark Award in Education and Law. He also has been honored with the Carter G. Woodson History Maker Living Legend Award, and was selected by Savoy Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in America. Professor Ogletree earned an M.A. and B.A. (with distinction) in political science from Stanford University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He also holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Wheaton inaugurated the Otis Social Justice Award and Symposium in 1990. The symposium, which now features multiple events, brings the college community together to explore issues central to a just society: peace, world hunger, human rights and the protection of children. The event also honors the women and men who bring members of the community closer to compassionate action. These individuals receive the Otis Social Justice Award, which includes an honorarium that recipients may designate to the cause of their choice. Past recipients of the award have included former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, public school reform advocate Jonathan Kozol, feminist Gloria Steinem, Children's Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, journalist Molly Ivins and U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy.